Happy July, lovely people! Are you looking forward to the weekend? Do you have wedding plans to check off your list? Before you do, I have a tad more inspiration to share with you. You’ll need your Pinning fingers, and something to catch your chin in: for this is a truly jaw-droppingly beautiful English country garden wedding!

Contact & Bookings: Jennifer Jane Photography

The venue is Cadhay, a unique Devon wedding venue in Ottery St Mary in the heart of rural East Devon. The beautiful and historic Elizabethan manor house is a luxurious home from home, offering exclusive use and accommodation as well as charming and welcoming rooms for civil ceremonies.

Coco Chanel said “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance” – and today’s wedding is simply perfect.

Cadhay was decorated with the most beautiful country garden flowers in jars and vases by In Bloom. Jane wore a beautiful ivory dress from La Bella Bridal while Jon was wearing a dashing blue suit by Hugo Boss of Dukes and looked very handsome indeed. See more...

Today’s shoot took my breath away. It is opulent wedding styling, beautifully realised, and deliciously different. For stately home weddings, halls and barns loaded with history I LOVE the concept of dreamily dark styling and decadent florals.

The shoot takes inspiration from the Dutch masters – painters who turned tablescapes loaded with fruit and florals into exquisite masterpieces. The oil painting look worked beautifully in 16th century Holland; it still has the power to captivate today, and becomes the most exciting wedding styling inspiration you can imagine.

All of the gorgeous images are by Joanna Ritchie Photography. The flowers were designed by lovely Claire at Garden & Wild. (Garden & Wild is fully booked for large scale bespoke weddings until 2018 but still has some availability for intimate celebrations, so do get in touch soon if you’d like to book Claire for your big day!) See more...

Today’s real wedding is country charm and welcoming tipis – the loveliest rustic backdrop for a pretty, romantic wedding day. I love Nikki’s Claire Pettibone gown, her bouquet, and the party atmosphere the beautiful images capture at the reception. The tipis look amazing and I really hope you enjoy this wedding as much as I have!

“The tipis are so dramatic themselves full of fairy lights they don’t need a lot of extra decor – lots of family and friends helped and it was lovely to see the bits they had done. A friend made personal table names based on the horses we have at home, another produced our table plan and many pitched in the couple of days before. That was one of the loveliest parts of our wedding.”

Images are by East Sussex based Samantha Pells Photography. Discover more beautiful weddings by Samantha here:

Favourite supplier web links for other brides and grooms:

Will you wear a flower crown? Or are you looking for more subtle floral accessories to suit a subtle colour palette? Girls – if soft white and ivory shades tinged with gold are your style then I have something super pretty to show you today!

Add a heavenly finishing touch to your wedding dress with Yelena Smirnova`s exclusive floral headpieces from her new Gilded collection. The collection was inspired by the natural beauty of summer flowers with reference to the opulence and glamour of the Belle Époque era.

Delicate roses and daisies and beautifully stylized pearl lilies of the valley combining with intricate beadwork lace motifs evoke an unforgettable romantic spirit while gold plating detail accents create a luxurious feel with a splash of elegance. For brides who are looking to tailor their accessories to their gown, most headpieces can be recreated in specific colours and silver accents.

The Lady At The Lake was an extra special styled shoot for me, because it sought to encompass a theme that is very close to my heart.

Working with a select group of talented female wedding vendors, including some, like myself, who are relatively new to the industry, we sought to inspire brides with a fine art fusion of femininity and strength.

Contrasting the softness of a 1950s chiffon dress and a silk Malene Birger gown, with bold makeup and simple, undone hair, we wanted to show brides that it is possible to look pretty and feminine, while also retaining a sense of their own identity and fierceness! See more...

In May I spent the loveliest birthday week down in Cornwall with my man. We walked the coastline, dined at Outlaws, explored magical villages and breathtaking landscapes… and I fell in love with Cornwall. But oh, it is such a long way from my part of the world!!

I would be thrilled to feature more Cornish weddings on the blog, so do get in touch if you’re marrying in those parts! In the meantime, I have news which you’ll love if you’re tying the knot in Cornwall.

Boho brides, whimsical couples and lovers of the outdoors will know and love outdoor events company PapaKåta, who’ve featured many times on the English Wedding Blog. We love their tipis and gorgeous Sperry Tents. Rachael from PapaKåta has just been in touch to tell me all about Sperry Tents South West – a new venture making the luxury tents more widely available across the UK.

Nestle into your sofa, sink back into your work chair, cradle that cup of tea and prepare to fall in LOVE with today’s beautiful wedding on the blog. Charlotte just looks amazing; Joe is as tall, dark and handsome as can be, and they married in the loveliest venue you can imagine. I love this wedding for the stunning images – also for Charlotte’s wonderful advice and tips for other brides and grooms. Don’t break yourself over DIY; don’t panic over details, do whatever feels right for YOU and plan to really enjoy your best day yet.

“Try and savour the moments throughout the day, it really does go so quickly and by the end of it you will be absolutely exhausted but enjoy every single minute. Don’t worry about the small things: the days before the wedding I was losing sleep over how we were going to display the table plan and what the napkins would look like but on the day those things really didn’t matter. As long as you have food, music and your dress sorted you are good to go!” See more...

Printed wedding stationery doesn’t necessarily mean mass produced, but you definitely get a very special personal touch when you hire a calligrapher for your wedding.

90% of what I do here in my little studio is by hand, one letter at a time, with an element of alchemy in mixing inks and choosing papers where they’ll sit just so… and every morning when I sit at my desk I fall back in love with my work.

Calligraphy is every bit as therapeutic, rewarding and exciting as you could imagine – and if you don’t fancy having a go yourself you can still just as easily fall in love with delicate modern lettering written especially for you.

These little pieces were written by me, in my little calligraphy studio on the edge of the Lake District. The gold ink shines gently in sunlight; the black hand-torn card is perfect for a boho or country wedding – and ideal for darker or wooden tables where a little more impact is needed for your guests’ place settings. See more...

So far, in my life as a wedding blogger, I haven’t eaten a peony. Although… they always look deliciously pretty, don’t you think?! Alex and Chris’s wedding was filled with peonies – the flowers are an absolute highlight and the light, feminine style of their day is beautiful.

The gorgeous couple married at Woodlands Hotel on the outskirts of Leeds city centre. Their day was incredibly pretty; they were blessed with sunshine and blue skies and the images are simply stunning.

There are many ways to make a statement with your bridal style… and today’s is free (who didn’t make daisy chains as a child?!). The prettiest daisies, entwined into a heavenly braid – worn up or down – make for a perfect country wedding look. I can’t take my eyes from the screen...

A late Spring styled shoot featuring flower crowns and rustic bouquets full of flowers, Hellebores and Narcissi, grown in the florists own gardens on the outskirts of Skipton, North Yorkshire. Susan Dobson of The Yorkshire Dales Flower Company was busy creating her floral masterpieces.

Val Preston of Truly Essential was on site with her Bridal Makeup expertise and to make our model, Katie Holmes photoshoot ready whilst Danielle Dixon of The Hair Hub in Skipton was creative bridal hairdresser for the day using the flowers provided. The floral hair piece featured with the pleat is made from seasonal flowers including Ranunculus, Sweet Williams and Tulips.

It feels a little like summer… and it’s all because of these flowers gracing my screen this morning. I’m bowled over, totally in love with this day and our fabulous bride and groom on the blog this morning. Kate is gorgeous – her bouquet is out of this world and I adore the colours… I also spotted their super lovely table plan, and the portraits of the happy couple are beautifully done.

I LOVE the lavender theme – Kate told me a little more, namely that they wanted to keep things simple: “We did a little decoration, we used Reveries for our venue décor, we just wanted something very classy but low key. Wedding favours were homemade, little bags of lavender for the ladies and little bags of mints for the men.” But oh, it looks so magical!

Images are by Carl Glancey Photography, a wedding photographer in Surrey who I’m thrilled to be featuring for the first time on the English Wedding Blog. Discover more from Carl here: See more...

Booking your first appointments at bridal boutiques is exciting – and the experience you have should be lovely, one you’ll remember for a long time. Yes, it can be stressful, and I know so many girls do worry about the first appointment. I know I’d be just the same! So I wanted to share some tips and a short behind-the-scenes photo film to tell you a little more about the process. If you’re planning your first wedding dress appointment soon, today’s feature is for you!

For me the most important thing to find – even more than The Dress – is The Boutique. Buying your wedding dress should be an experience you’ll enjoy. You should feel confident and comfortable, relaxed and able to ask every question that springs to mind. The staff in a bridal boutique should be honest in the loveliest possible way – friendly experts who will help you with every decision, while never forcing opinions on you. Customer service should go above and beyond when it comes to wedding dress appointments – and if you’re not happy in a particular boutique – leave! There are some fabulous wedding dress shops out there, and finding one is your key to loving your dress! See more...

May 25th, 2020

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The English Wedding Blog is all about creativity: my dream is to curate an online space for couples to get inspired by real weddings, shoots and the latest in wedding design - with a real focus on English and UK weddings and suppliers.

I'm also known for writing calligraphy - for my work with Kirstie Allsopp and because I've worked with hundreds of brides and grooms. Beautiful writing is my passion and I'm happiest with a pen in my hand and ink on my face!

I live on the edge of the English Lake District, a couple of minutes from the seaside. I've lived in France and Italy, I ride a Vespa, I'm a cat person and I love dirty guitar bands, walking in the mountains, and my beach.